This is actually wonderful. Barbie’s had 124 careers since 1959, ranging from Stewardess to Paratrooper. Today she gets her 125th: computer engineer. You can tell she’s smart ’cause she’s got glasses, and reads nothing but binary.

Barbie’s latest career move is also significant for being the first decided entirely by online vote. Though maybe it’s not so surprising that the internet community was especially inclined to see a Bluetooth-rocking geektastic Barbie.

“All the girls who imagine their futures through Barbie will learn that engineers – like girls – are free to explore inï¬nite possibilities, limited only by their imagination,” says Nora Lin, President, Society of Women Engineers. “As a computer engineer, Barbie will show girls that women can turn their ideas into realities that have a direct and positive impact on people’s everyday lives in this exciting and rewarding career.”

It appears that the binary on her laptop’s screen, repeated over and over again, is 0x69, 0x69, 0x69…

You know what? I’m willing to call that an ASCII ‘E’ if you are.

Morder

if you look really carefully the binary on her screen spells out “BarbieBarbieBarbie”…

EngineerZero

She actually has perfect vision. The glasses are for an Augmented Reality display.

tgmake

I have a 3 year old girl and she picked up her first Barbie doll last month. The way she stared at it the first night was really revealing, she was really focused on the details and it hit home how much Barbie dolls have an influence on girls.

Even though it’s nothing more than a doll with a computer and eyeglasses, it’s a first step. I want nothing more than my daughter to be healthy, happy and self sufficient, so if there is a Barbie that has a computer job and it reinforces some of the things I try to teach her, that’s better than what we have now.

craig

Now there’s ‘divorced Barbie’. She comes with Ken’s dream house and half of Ken’s stuff.
ba-da-bum.

Dustyn Roberts

This is great! I got a link from a female friend (computer science major in undergrad) a while ago asking me to go to the Barbie website and vote for computer engineer. I’m so happy to be a part of the winning team! As a mechanical engineer myself, I’ll support anything that makes engineering more visible and accessible to young girls.

StefanJ

Barbie’s laptop has the cyan screen of death!

Daniel

Ok first lets get something correct here, Barbie was NEVER a paratrooper…she was a soldier. A Paratrooper is a front line battle ready unit soldier and under federal and military law, women CANNOT be assigned to a front line combat unit. Yes there are women over in Iraq and Afgahannie but not one of them is in a front line unit. They are all in Rear Echelon support units. How do I know this? I spent three years with the 101st Airborne Rangers 22nd Combat unit which was later (in the 80’s) rolled into the military unit known as the “Night Stalkers” (google it)

So how about Barbie doing something that she never has done before? How about the new “Wife and Mother” barbie? As I keep telling my sisters in law, my job is important yes…but there is no more important or difficult job anywhere on the planet then being a wife and a mother. That is why most men would pound you into small chunks if you dared say anything bad about their mothers or their wives or their children as even if they dont admit it, they know this to be a fact as well.

fubarator

Daniel, are you serious? Let me familiarize you with American culture. My kid is bombarded by Disney movies that inculcate the wedding/marriage thing. Miles of aisles of pink plastic baby dolls to promote the motherhood thing. Do not worry, the “wife and mother” thing is covered and if I have my way the “rewarding career” thing will be too. Computer Barbie is great and we need more like this.

volkemon

Inculcate…cool! a new word!

inâ‹…culâ‹…cate
â€‚â€‚Pronunciation [in-kuhl-keyt]

â€“verb (used with object), -catâ‹…ed, -catâ‹…ing. 1. to implant by repeated statement or admonition; teach persistently and earnestly (usually fol. by upon or in): to inculcate virtue in the young.
2. to cause or influence (someone) to accept an idea or feeling (usually fol. by with): Socrates inculcated his pupils with the love of truth.

Thanks! Was not part of my vocabulary before.

Daniel

fubarator and Bayne PUH-LEAZE!! Barbie can no more be a Paratrooper then either of you can live on the sun. And I dont care WHAT google has to say Bayne. I know she is not real but she is suppose to be a role model for the young girls, so why try and show them this when women are banned under federal law and the UCMJ (Uniformed Code Of Military Justice) from ever serving in a combat unit? And a Paratrooper IS A COMBAT UNIT!!! How do I know? I was with the 101st Airborne 22nd Combat for over 3 years and my MOS was demolitions. Yes we had women who trained with us and won the badge, but NO WE DID NOT have one woman in our unit nor division unless she was with support or a nurse/doctor and these were rear echelon units and not front line units. So again…if she cannot be one, why try and show her as one??

Bayne

Actually, Barbie was a paratrooper (google it) She was also a musketeer in a movie my youngest watched this weekend…I don’t think federal or military law applies to imagination. That’s a great thing about Barbie; Barbie can be anything she wants. My girls get bombarded with enough stereotypes as it is. Go Barbie!

Jollyrgr

The binary on Barbie’s screen translates to her name. I guess she’s the girl in the red dress from The Matrix.